3 ms·

The most interesting thing to me is that this is sponsored by Gumroad and Mailchimp. This suggests that self-publishing is at the end of the early adopter phase

The most interesting thing to me is that this is sponsored by Gumroad and Mailchimp. This suggests that self-publishing is at the end of the early adopter phase, and perhaps on its way to becoming mainstream. Would love to know more about the corp. involvement here. (And yes, signed up.) Update: By "corp. involvement" I'm not suggesting this is a shill for Gumroad and Mailchimp, but rather it's interesting they see enough potential in this sector to agree to sponsor this. Also it is an interesting wrinkle on the self-publishing / info product phenomenon to get sponsors for your book.

pjrvs 13y ago
I'm the guy running the course. Basically I asked both companies if they'd want to sponsor it, and they said yes. Zero content is written for the sponsors, but I do include their logo on the website and in the emails.
marquis 13y ago
I think that all self-publishing needs to go mainstream is a few major authors to go down that route. We used to rely on bookstores to decide which books were the ones to read, much as video rental stores and movie theatres told us which movies to watch. It shouldn't be long now that book reading goes through the same revolution: it needs a new power-player like Netflix and Hulu for books, and high-profile review sites like rogerebert.com for movies reviews.
mb_72 13y ago
Self-publishing has been around for more or less as long as there has been books. Personally, I hope it doesn't become 'mainstream' otherwise every Tom, Dick and Harry who thinks they can write will be churning out their own 'masterpiece', and then wondering why no-one is interested in it. There is something to be said for budding authors to get their 10,000 hours in in 'publishing silence', and then produce something actually worthwhile reading. That said, if someone has produced a guide that will benefit good writers that otherwise might flounder a bit with the self-publication process, more power to them. And the creator of this approach does note, to his credit, that this won't make you a better writer. I wonder how many will take serious note of this point!
- rokhayakebe 13y ago
  I think EVERYONE needs to write a book, at least once. I am not entirely convinced every book should be published, however.

pjrvs 13y ago

I'm the guy running the course. Basically I asked both companies if they'd want to sponsor it, and they said yes. Zero content is written for the sponsors, but I do include their logo on the website and in the emails.

marquis 13y ago

I think that all self-publishing needs to go mainstream is a few major authors to go down that route. We used to rely on bookstores to decide which books were the ones to read, much as video rental stores and movie theatres told us which movies to watch. It shouldn't be long now that book reading goes through the same revolution: it needs a new power-player like Netflix and Hulu for books, and high-profile review sites like rogerebert.com for movies reviews.

mb_72 13y ago

Self-publishing has been around for more or less as long as there has been books. Personally, I hope it doesn't become 'mainstream' otherwise every Tom, Dick and Harry who thinks they can write will be churning out their own 'masterpiece', and then wondering why no-one is interested in it. There is something to be said for budding authors to get their 10,000 hours in in 'publishing silence', and then produce something actually worthwhile reading. That said, if someone has produced a guide that will benefit good writers that otherwise might flounder a bit with the self-publication process, more power to them. And the creator of this approach does note, to his credit, that this won't make you a better writer. I wonder how many will take serious note of this point!

rokhayakebe 13y ago
I think EVERYONE needs to write a book, at least once. I am not entirely convinced every book should be published, however.